The crystal ball is what they play for!
Editor Note: Well, the first BCS standings of 2010 came out last Sunday, and that begs the question, “What is this BCS thing anyways?” I know that you know about the controversy, and the chaos, and the debates, but do you know the specifics behind it? Well, writer Daniel Durany of DFW Football fills us in.
Inside the BCS
While the majority of this nation’s desires a playoff system for college football, we are unfortunately stuck with the best formula to determine the two teams in college football playing for a national championship known as the BCS. What is the BCS? The BCS stands for Bowl Championship Series and started to form in 1998 when the Atlantic Coast Conference, Big East, Big 12, Big Ten, Pac-10, Southeastern Conference, & University of Notre Dame contracted with Fiesta, Sugar, Rose, & Orange Bowl.
Today the BCS is managed by the commissioners of the NCAA Football Bowl Subdivisions (“FBS”) conferences, Director of Athletics at the University of Notre Dame, and representatives of the bowl organizations. The 11 NCAA Football Bowl Subdivision (formerly Division 1-A) conferences are the Atlantic Coast Conference, Big East, Big Ten, Big 12, Conference USA, Mid-American, Mountain-West Conference, Pac-10 Conference, Southeastern Conference, Sun Belt Conference, and Western Athletic Conference representing a total of 120 universities.
The BCS Standings are broken down into three components: USA Today Coaches Poll, Harris Interactive College Football Poll, & an average of six computer rankings. Each of these three components will count one-third toward a team’s overall BCS Score.
The Six Computer Rankings are used by Jeff Sagarin, Anderson & Hester, Richard Billingsley, Colley Matrix, Kenneth Massey and Dr. Peter Wolfe. Points are assigned by inverse order of rankings from 1-25. A team’s highest and lowest computer ranking will be discarded in calculating its computer rankings average. The four remaining computer scores will be averaged and the total will be calculated as a percentage of 100. These six computer rankings breakdown of which teams should be ranked higher than others by a breakdown of several mathematical formulas such as Cumulative Distribution Function, Elo-Chess, Bradley-Terry model, derivatives, logistics, & algorithms. With all of the mathematical formulas provides a breakdown of numerous factors to determine the ranking for each team such as: strength of schedule, recent performances, conference’s strength, win-loss record, team-record against current Top 10, & Top 25 teams. At the same time the computer polls are not based upon any bias factor, no-influence on opinions or assumptions, or margin of victory.
The USA Today Coaches Poll is made up 59 voting members and all of them are from the American Football Coaches Association. All 59 coaches will fill out their own top 25 ranking ballot. Teams receive points in reverse order of the way they are ranked. For an example, a 1st place team receives 25 points, 2nd place team receives 24 points, and so on.
The overall team’s score in the USA Today poll will be divided by 1,475. The maximum number of points a team can possibly receive is 1,475 points if all 59 voting members ranks the same team #1. If a team receives a total of 59 voting points which is an average of 25th place, their BCS quotient would be .04 from (59/1475 or 1/25).
The Harris Interactive Poll replaces the Associated Press Poll. They launched their first Top 25 rankings for college football on September 25, 2005. There are 114 panelists who are compromised of former coaches, players, administrators, and current and former media. 10 panelists are selected from each of 11 Football Bowl Subdivision conference and the last four panelists represent the independent institutions. Some of the 114 panelists include 3-time Super Bowl champion Chad Hennings, Heisman Trophy quarterbacks Gino Torretta and Tommy Frazier, former NFL quarterbacks Craig Morton, & Gus Frerotte, former NFL safety Blaine Bishop, former college coaches Sonny Lubik, Jackie Sherrill & Joe Novak, and former Director of Player Personnel of the Dallas Cowboys, Gil Brandt. Harris Interactive Polls recently signed four-year extension through 2013 with the conferences and institutions that manage the BCS.
Even with all the polls, computer formulas, stats, and so-called football gurus will never be able identify who’s the #1 team in the nation. To determine the teams playing for national championship game should be determine on the field. The games on the field will give everyone an accurate conclusion to determine whose # 1 team in the nation.
